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Customer appreciation is often viewed as a lost art. But the smart business organizations do know that buy showing customers how much you care for them is one best opportunity to win people over for life. Convincing your customers that they are most important to you than your competitors.

Customer retention should be an integral part of your marketing strategy, and according to a study conducted by Brain and Company on customer loyalty, customer retention can increase the revenue in profits for more than 25 per cent. So how will you thank your customers before the competition? Here are a few ideas that worked for our clients.

Your customers wish to be valued

No one will wish to be in a one-way relationship especially where you have been giving and they are never receiving. The same applies to be true in commerce. Customers will wish to have a two-way relationship with the company. One of the easiest ways of making your customers feel more valued and part of two way relationship is to continually make them feel valued for their business and loyalty. You will be glad you did, creating a few brand advocates. Remember that the customers continue to feel valued or they can take your business elsewhere. Studies have shown that 68 per cent of business lose a customer because the organization does not value them, where as 9% leave because of what the customers have been doing.

Sending them a hand written note

What is so special about a hand written note that makes it so memorable enough for the ones you have been dealing with.Writing an amazing thank you note does not take long at all, but its impact is huge in digital world. One of the example for this can be Grasshopper whose personal note has led to a great impression for the ones they have been dealing with for years, in such a way that an article is written sharing his delight for the time they have taken during the sign up. So spare a few minutes to surprise your customers and bring a change to your business.

Sending your customers some small gifts

Another way of surprising your customers is going an extra mile for them and give them unexpected rewards. After all who will not wish to get unexpected surprises from the ones they have been dealing with them. For example if you have sold customers some laser prints, you can then send them a free cartridge after three months with a small note that’s says: You are probably close to running out a toner, so we are here sending you the first refill with our compliments. Thanks for your business and we really appreciate it. These kind of gestures will not cost you much and they can repay you many times over customer loyalty and word of mouth referrals.

Getting Things Right:

One of the most common theme in a memorable customer service is that the businesses who go above and beyond to make a difficult situation right for the customers. Say for example Bungie Studios one of the most beloved game developers in the industry today raised a bar for their willingness in order to take care of their fans and providing some value to them. The story begins somewhere like this with a distraught father whose sun had to receive a liver transplantation surgery during the holidays.

Since being in the hospital left with a release of the favorite new game franchise, his dad then reached out to bungie, and the response he gained through this was totally unexpected.First, the entire team sent a card with get well soon notes, they then built him a custom helmet with the main character of the game and sent it along with some toys, t-shirts and custom art from the game designers.

His father then posted a thank you thread with the collection of images on Christmas day which was wen bungie visited his son in the hospital getting him some gifts.

Offer related or complementary products

Delighting your customer is all about finding the wow factor. Place yourself in the shoes of your customer and ask yourself if you were dealing with this business and what would be an outstanding experience for you and your business. What would make you come back again and again make you tell others about the business you have been dealing with.

Sit with your staff and have a brainstorming session done to understand and know what an outstanding experience would actually look like. Have some market research done in order to understand and know what your customers have been expecting from your business, what they have been getting and where the gaps are.

To conclude delighting your customers is a winning tactic. And many of these ideas will require use of customer database in order to deal with your customers in the right way. What other strategies would you like to add above in order to thank your customers? Do leave your thoughts below.